Kelly's game-winner ends roller coaster ride

Although the Birmingham Brother Rice-Novi Detroit Catholic Central lacrosse rivalry has been one-sided on the won-loss ledger, Tuesday night’s meeting could only be categorized as “taking it to the next level.”

While Rice has won 12 straight MHSAA Division 1 championships, including the last three over CC, the gap appears to be closing considerably.

That’s because the Warriors needed an overtime goal by Jack Kelly with 1:51 left in double-overtime to beat the host Shamrocks in Novi, 15-14.

Kelly, an All-American headed to Georgetown University, scored four goals in the win, but none was bigger than his final shot, which short-hopped past CC goalie Hunter Braun, who just seconds earlier kept the match deadlocked by making critical back-to-back stops.

“We had a couple of great shots at the end,” said Kelly, who also collected two assists. “It was just a matter of one falling in. And mine just happened to be the one to fall.”

Ironically, Kelly never saw the game-winner go into the net. He used a screen and it came after Braun robbed Daniel Reaume from point-blank range.

“I did not know right away,” the senior midfielder said. “The first instant I didn’t think it went in. Thought he saved it and then saw one of their players’ head go down and I knew right then. I was just ecstatic. Great moment.”

The Warriors, who improved to 7-3 overall, also got three goals apiece Matt Murray and Reaume, along with two from Erik Schmidt, who scored go-ahead goal with 3:08 remaining in regulation to make it 14-13.

CC led 7-5 at halftime and 9-5 in the third period before Rice charged back with four unanswered goals to make it 11-all entering the fourth.

The Shamrocks led 13-12 with 6:58 left in the final period on Joey Kamish’s goal from Ryan Sullivan, but did not score again until the buzzer sounded when Nicholas Capatina notched his fourth of the night coming out of a timeout with only three seconds left.

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Even with the stick of Brother Rice's Carson Cochran (right) under his neck, CC's Joey Kamish managed to score.(Photo: JOHN HEIDER | STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

CC freshman Connor Baratta, who was a thorn in Rice’s side all night long in the face-off circle, won yet another draw to start the four-minute OT against Rice’s long stick defender Blake Karcher.

But the Shamrocks turned the ball over at midfield on their initial possession setting up Kelly’s game-winner.

"Exciting, crazy, chaotic . . . all the things you hope for when you play a rival," said CC coach Dave Wilson, whose team slipped to 7-3 overall. "Just a couple of turnovers here and there kind of at some key times, taking care of the ball . . . when you play good teams like this and you give them the ball literally one more time, it can be detrimental. And I think the overtime we had a couple of saves and the ball went up for grabs and that was the one more time.”

Senior Brennan Kamish also finished with four goals, including one at the horn to end the first period giving CC a 4-2 advantage. Joey Kamish added three goals and three assists, while Ethan Pattinson had two goals. Ryan Birney also scored a goal, while Sullivan finished with two assists. Justin Pettouhoff also drew an assist.

The Shamrocks were coming off a 16-5 loss on Saturday at home to Culver Military Academy (Ind.), which also defeated Brother Rice earlier this season, 18-2.

"Give our guys a ton of credit for just being exceptionally tough and never caving in some pretty tough moments,” Wilson said.

The Warriors’ senior goalie Teddy Lievois also made two huge saves during the final 1:25 of regulation.

“Happy with the heart and hustle they showed today,” Rice coach Ajay Chawla said. “And we’re going to see CC once, probably twice like we do every year. It’s a battle every year and they’re a great team, and we’re a good team.”

On Sunday, Rice snapped the nation’s longest prep winning streak at 50 games in Hamburg, N.Y. when they upended Victor, 10-9.

“We expected them (CC) to come out strong and they did,” Chawla said. “It’s been an emotional week for the guys. Our biggest worry was keeping the guys up and emotionally ready for this game. You never want to want to see your big in-state opponent two days coming off your biggest win of maybe these guys’ career.”

The Warriors, meanwhile, had a hard time running down CC’s top guns offensively in Capatina and Brennan Kamish.

“I think our legs were down a little bit,” the Rice coach said. “Listen, they have two great shooters. Number 22 (Capatina) is hard to cover. He had a great game today. He went right and we knew he was going to go right, we still let him go right. And we had a fair amount of mental mistakes tonight. And that dug us a hole at half. But I’m proud of the team. Down at half again and second day in a row we pulled it out.”

Rice had to dig down deep to keep its spotless record going against the Shamrocks.

“We’re a team that’s going to come back, fight and claw for everything, our defense, our goalie and our top players always stepping up and making great plays,” Kelly said. “Over the weekend we were down 7-3 at half. This one we were down again. We never give up and that’s kind of our motto this year. We always fight and claw and we’re going to win at the end of the day.”